


The Park Bench

by AmmoniaAndBleach



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Get Together, Humor, Peraltiago, Technically a one shot?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 22:16:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15325554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmmoniaAndBleach/pseuds/AmmoniaAndBleach
Summary: After a terrible date with Rosa’s friend Katie, Amy tracks Jake down to console him and tell him something he has wanted to hear for a really long time.





	The Park Bench

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is my very first attempt at writing a fanfic so I’m not so sure how this turned out. Feel free to let me know how I did in the comments. It would be greatly appreciated :)

It was a cold October night, and Jake Peralta was wandering aimlessly around the park less than a block away from his apartment.  
There was no sign of life anywhere; the families who flocked to the park in the daytime to play ball games and have picnics had long since departed and the park was pitch black.

Jake would not have been able to put one foot in front of the other if not for the occasional lamp post, but even with the low level of light it was still a challenge. Having ditched the old-fashioned cassette tapes he loved so much, he opened up the music app on his phone and hit shuffle on one of his playlists. This one was entitled “SNH”. 

This was what he listened to when he was feeling down and wanted to “wallow in his own sadness” as his fellow NYPD detective and friend, Rosa Diaz had always said. The first song came on: Un-Break My Heart by Toni Braxton. Jake let out a long and dramatic sigh in response to the opening few bars of the song.

There was a good reason why Jake was putting himself through all of this at one in the morning on a seemingly random night - he had just been on one of the worst dates of his life with Rosa’s friend Katie, who turned out to be even scarier and even more closed off than Rosa herself. She was even more of a nightmare than the girl who burst into tears when she found out he was a Gemini. This fact alone wouldn’t have seemed so bad to Jake, but the purpose of the date was for him to try and move on from his long-time crush, Amy Santiago. Even thinking of her name gave Jake butterflies and a burning sensation in his cheeks. 

There was no mistaking that Jake had it bad for Amy. The only problem was that Amy already had a boyfriend and didn’t seem to return those gooey, disgusting emotions that Jake had for her. He would have to come to terms with the fact that there was nothing that could be done to win her over.

Tired of walking, Jake sat down on a nearby park bench just as Teardrops On My Guitar gave way into Hey Jude. He checked his phone to find that he had five missed calls from Boyle, who was probably attempting to check in on his progress with Katie. Gina had linked him to another video of one of her lame dance rehearsals and there was a notification from Big Mike’s Calzones warning him that his coupons were about to expire.  
He made a mental note to redeem them later. That was when he got a text from Amy.

Although he wouldn’t admit it to anybody else, Jake’s heart-rate began to increase. A million thoughts raced through his head. What could she possibly be texting him about at 1:15am? Maybe she was just forwarding a message from Holt about a recent case they had both worked. Maybe she had broken up with teddy and wanted to ask him out. Jake scolded himself internally for even thinking of such a thing.

He opened the message.

“Sorry about tonight. Is that park bench comfy?”

Jake was perplexed, and a little more than creeped out. He shot her a text in response.

“How did you know I was on a park bench? Also, sorry about tonight is the title of your sex tape”

“Ha ha, Jake.” came a voice seemingly out of nowhere. Amy emerged from behind a nearby tree and made her way over to where Jake was sitting. She sat down and produced a small bag of peanuts from her coat pocket as he took his earphones out.

“Check it out, I’ve been practising ever since our little date.” She said, laughing before tossing a handful of nuts into her mouth and only managing to catch two of them. 

Jake looked at Amy and gave a slight smirk. He couldn’t help but think that it was not ok that this was the happiest he had been in the past few miserable hours.

“Oh, and by the way” Amy added, “you drunk texted me telling me all about how Katie was a huge drag. I guess you forgot. Called her a pile of human fences. It got really hurtful towards the end. Anyway, I’m sorry to hear about that. If it makes you feel any better I haven’t exactly been having the best night myself.”

Jake looked at her, still not quite willing to contribute to the conversation. Instead of talking, he patted Amy’s shoulder awkwardly.

“Thanks. I needed that.” Said Amy, sarcastically. Her tone was serious and jaded but her eyes sparkled and she was smiling despite her best efforts to conceal it. She knew that Jake had been going through a lot lately and he always talked about how bad he was with emotions so it was fine with her if it took him a while to open up.

“So what’s up with you?” Jake asked, almost as if he was reading Amy’s mind and trying to impress her with his “emotional intelligence”. He gasped theatrically. “Did Teddy leave you for a hot speedboat model?”

“Jake.” Amy warned. “I was actually the one who broke up with him. He saw that I got a text from you and then he got all jealous for some reason. He’s got this crazy theory that I secretly like you or something.”

“And he’s right, isn’t he?” Jake was beaming at Amy like a toddler.

“Very funny, Jake.” Amy retorted. “ Have you ever considered stand-up comedy?” 

“Yes. It’s on my list of dream careers right after ice cream truck owner and John McClane.”

“You do realise that John McClane isn’t an actual occupation, right?”

“Let me dream, Amy!” Replied Jake, defensively, pretending to be deeply hurt by Amy’s words. Amy couldn’t help but laugh, and that made Jake laugh too. Amy always laughed when she was around Jake. It was one of the things she secretly loved about him.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Jake offered when the laugher eventually subsided.

“There wasn’t really anything to it. Teddy kept asking about you and things escalated and I ended up calling him the most boring man in America. I dumped him and he stormed out of the apartment after that and everything has been a blur since.”

Jake put his arm around Amy in an effort to console her. He felt bad. He remembered Amy saying that she never wanted to go through another breakup again. On the other hand, she hadn’t seemed fully happy in her relationship for the past few months. Ever since Jake came back from being undercover the dynamic between Amy and Teddy was noticeably different. Maybe it was because he confessed his feelings to her before going undercover, Jake thought. Once again, he mentally scolded himself for thinking that his words could have such an effect on Amy.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Jake spoke up.

“So how did you find me out here?” He asked.

“I’m a detective in the NYPD. I notice stuff. I know that this is your favourite place to come when you’re sad. Remember when Charles accidentally spoiled Die Hard 5 for you? You came here every night for a week.”

“Yeah.” He replied. “I was listening to my sad playlist tonight as well. You interrupted Endless Bummer. That’s my second favourite Weezer song!”

She somehow managed to shuffle even closer to him on the bench. “Anyway, I figured you’d be here after I heard about your date and I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“What’s going on?” Jake asked quizzically, mirroring Amy’s own words from that night when Jake confessed his feelings towards her before going undercover.

“I guess what I want to say is that I dumped Teddy after I realised how boring he was, and then I realised that all this time you were who I needed to be with. I’m just sorry it took so long for me to realise that. I know this isn’t fair of me to bring up right now given your situation with Katie, and you’ve probably moved on from me by now but I feel like it needed to be said.”

It took a while for Jake to process Amy’s words, but when he did it felt like he was going to explode with happiness. “It’s ok, Ames. Really.” He said with that toddler grin that Amy had grown to love. “So if I like you and you like me, what does that make us?”

“I guess we’re kind of boyfriend and girlfriend. No, wait. Maybe it’s too early for that. Let’s just go out tomorrow night and see what happens. If you’re ok with that, obviously.”

“Sounds great.” Jake replied enthusiastically. He was still grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. By this point he had completely forgotten about his disaster of a date with Katie.

Amy stood up and proceeded to grab Jake’s arm in an effort to pull him off of the bench. Jake got to his feet and walked alongside her, pretending to complain while Amy laughed. They spent a good hour just walking around in the empty park, talking about everything from Jake’s second favourite Die Hard villain to the good types of tabs that you could use in binders.

They finally reached the entrance gate after doing multiple laps of the park. “This is where I leave you.” Said Amy in a mock-dramatic tone. She seemed sad to have to part with Jake, even though she would see him in the precinct first thing in the morning. “Noice. Smort.” Jake replied. Amy frowned. Jake’s eyes softened and he rested one hand on her shoulder. 

“Thanks for making my night better.” He said in a soft voice. There was another glimmer of light in Amy’s eyes and she was smiling from ear to ear. She leaned into him.

“Title of your sex tape.” She whispered.

“Oh my God. I was planning on kissing you anyway but now I have to.” Jake replied. Their lips met.

The kiss was everything Jake wanted it to be. They both seemed to know exactly what the other was doing even though it was their first time doing it together. They just had that easy chemistry about them.

When they finally broke apart, Amy stuck her hand out to shake Jake’s. She put on a mock-serious tone.

“Detective Peralta.”  
“Detective Santiago.”  
“I’ll see you at the precinct tomorrow, and then again at eight for dinner.”  
“I can’t wait.”

They smirked at each other and said goodbye one last time. Despite their differences, Jake and Amy could both agree that this would be the night their relationship changed forever.


End file.
